May 24, 2013 · 8:00 am

Unhappy About My Happy Place…

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Businesses come and go. Archivers is more than just a business. It is my “happy place.” The one place in my little world that is completely dedicated to memory keeping. If it were a grocery store or even a shoe store, I could easily find a replacement. This loss is personal.

I received an e-mail approximately one month ago that Archivers had filed for bankruptcy and although we were reassured that business was booming, the e-mail that I received this morning proved otherwise.

Archiver’s is the place that I can find periwinkle pink 12 x 12 paper. It always has my favorite adhesive (Scrapbook Adhesives Tape Runner) and it always has the latest designer line. More than anything the workroom is the place where I celebrated my 29th birthday, the place where my scrapbook buddies and I relive our old memories and create new ones.

6a00d8357de06869e2017c3573347a970b-500wiCaption: Designer Amy Tangerine’s “Yes Please” Line

I feel a heaviness on my heart that my Archivers – Orland Park is closing and can only hope that the other Illinois stores remain open no matter how far I have to travel…

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May 23, 2013 · 8:00 am

What is your ideal schedule?

We often think about our ideal career, relationship or even house. I had two doctor’s appointments scheduled in one day earlier this week which required me to take off work and while sipping my Venti Iced White Mocha in a swanky Chicago college neighborhood, staring at my laptop and people watching, I started thinking about my ideal schedule.

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 Donnie’s Ideal Schedule: 
6:00 a.m. – 7:00 a.m.   Wake up and prepare breakfast for the family
7:00 a.m. – 7:30 a.m.   Drop my step son off at school
7:30 am. – 9:30 a.m.    Time to write… update my blog
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.  Work out with a trainer (ideally this would happen on a daily basis)
10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.   Work on projects/organizations/businesses
1:30 pm. – 3:00 p.m.      Run errands… shop for groceries, etc.
3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.      Pick up step son from school
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.      Prepare Dinner
4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.       Family Time – eat dinner, maybe take a nap
6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.      Entertainment – TV, social media
8:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.    Scrapbooking Time
10:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.   Pillow Talk with hubby
11:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.    Sleep!!!
My ideal schedule would allow me to work during my peak alert time (7:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.). It would allow me feed my spirit with creativity (scrapbooking & writing) and when I become a mom it will allow me to spend the majority of my time with my child.
My ideal schedule would allow my office to be mobile and it would involve working with other creatives & idealists.
My family is the most important thing to me, so it would allow us to have at least one meal together (breakfast or dinner) if not both and I would end my day cuddling with my hubby.
Now, I’m going to start planning toward making my ideal schedule a reality. What is your ideal schedule?

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May 22, 2013 · 8:00 am

Modesty is Beautiful

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I had the opportunity to see Imaan Ali at a fashion show recently and fell in love with her style. She’s a beautiful Muslim woman who started Hijablog in 2008.

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So many times, women think that they have to show a lot of skin to be attractive and appealing and Imaan reminds us that we can still be stylish. I love the way Imaan wraps her hair, and she layers clothing in a creative way.

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I also love the way that she shops at affordable clothing stores like H & M and Forever 21. I’m really going to channel Imaan next year during the Fall & Winter when Chicago gets blistering cold and layers are absolutely necessary. Her looks also work for my job where as a High School Teacher it is both professional and necessary to air on the side of caution and dress a bit conservative. Conservative does not have to mean boring or stale. Try a little mystery next time you get dressed.

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May 21, 2013 · 5:57 pm

Looking To Get That Interview? Download my Cover Letter Guide!

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I’ve been editing syllabi, cover letters and resumes for over 10 years now. I have now put all of the knowledge into an easy to digest Cover Letter Guide.

I have edited three cover letters THIS WEEK alone! I started working at the tender age of 12 at McDonald’s (long story, they thought I was 14) and have maintained steady work in multiple industries including retail, law, education, food service and communications for over 15 years. I am happy to say that I have been offered an interview and a job AT EVERY SINGLE PLACE I’ve ever applied to. When I started my teaching career, I interviewed at over 10 schools and was offered a position at each one.

In other words, this guide was created by someone whose expertise is the English Language and whose track record speaks for itself. The Analog Girl Cover Letter Guide is the best $5.00 you can spend whether you are looking to take your job search to the next level or you’d like to switch careers later in life. You deserve to invest in yourself and you can read this guide in one sitting. Payment is accepted via Paypal. Please stay tuned for more Analog Girl Guides in the near future! Click here to purchase!

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· 8:00 am

A Woman You Should Know…

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The fabulous Desiree Rogers was recently named chair of Choose Chicago, the tourism bureau of the city of Chicago.

Desiree is most known for becoming the CEO of Johnson Publishing Company (which publishes Ebony & Jet Magazine). With an MBA from Harvard Business School and serving on President Obama’s Administration as the White House Social Secretary, Ms. Rogers is a force to be reckoned with and a woman that you should both know about & respect!

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May 20, 2013 · 10:49 pm

The Ears Behind The Sound…

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Just listened to a fascinating interview over at Rap Rehab about Jay-Z’s audio engineer Gimel “Young Guru”. Audio Engineering is one of the most important components of the record making process and while I would tell my son, No Son, You Can’t Be a Rapper, the answer would be “Yes” to audio engineering.

In the interview Young Guru talks about his mother who was a teacher. He describes her as “resourceful” for shuffling him from community center to community center to learn music & instrumentation. He says she didn’t believe in kids being idle.

He also drops jewels about both engineering and recording. While most engineers are silent, he talks about serving as sort of a coach encouraging better lyrics & different cadences. He also talks about how he stays out of his artist’s personal life… probably one of the many reasons why he’s engineered 10 of Jay’s albums.  He also talks about the importance of memorizing the rhyme before laying it down on the track. He demonstrates how the voice sounds while holding a paper versus delivering the lines straight into the rap.

I could go on and on, but instead encourage you to listen to this excellent interview with a man who says sonically, he wants to have “the bottom end of a Tribe Called Quest and combine it with the clarity of a Dr. Dre Record.” Head on over to Rap Rehab to listen to this great piece: http://raprehab.com/young-guru-the-engineer-behind-jay-z-and-more/ .

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· 7:38 am

Beautiful Flowers for the Season

Last summer I delved into gardening a little bit. I created a beautiful end of summer/fall collection: http://donnienicole.com/2012/08/18/making-an-entrance-more-yard-projects/. At the beginning of the summer I started with two little containers on the porch http://donnienicole.com/2012/06/27/trying-to-make-things-grow/. Last summer was our first year in the house and I didn’t want to do too much so I kept it pretty simple.

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I went with a friend to three plant nurseries this past weekend. The first place we went was called Gethsemane Garden Center . They had everything from annuals (plants that only last a year/season) to perennials (plants that come back year after year), to shrubs. I also fell in love with the options they had for containers.

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The second place we went where I purchases most of plants was called Orchids by Hausermann. Not only did they have a huge orchid garden, but they also had a hefty collection of plants and flowers at excellent prices. Here are some of the orchids:

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This place had about two football fields of orchids in every color, shape, variety and stage of growth!

Most of the flats were $15.99 a piece. A flat is a tray full of the same variety of flowers. Then they had a great deal for annuals where if you bought 12, you got them at $3.99 per flower instead of $4.99 per flower. Both rates were the best out of the 3 nurseries we went to.

Here are the flowers I went with:

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These border the bushes in the front of my house.

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These are the flowers I bought for the two containers on my porch. The old ones were dead and never came back and I decided I’d plant annuals since annuals are known for their color versus perennials which come back every year.

Here is the finished product:

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Here is the container on my porch:

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And of course I couldn’t leave “The Orchid House” without any orchids so I bought two white ones for the dining room table. Both containers were also purchases at Hausermann’s:

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Playing in the dirt feels so good. It takes me back to my little girl days of being outside making mud pies and getting an extra layer of skin made out of dirt. Nature was created to heal our spirits by the creator.

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